Last year marked one of Bristol Academy Women’s best ever seasons but the key to their recent success lies in the club’s driving spirit, according to captain Corinne Yorston.
Since the Women’s Super League began three years ago, Bristol Academy have steadily been building up a head of steam, with a fifth and fourth place finish and an FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal in 2011.
Last year they went even better still, taking the league into a winner-takes-all final day clash with Liverpool Ladies, before eventually losing 2-0 to the Reds.
Before then there was a first ever outing in the Women’s Champions League against Russian side Energiya Voronezh while they reached their second FA Cup final in a row, before losing again to Arsenal.
Corinne Yorston in action for Bristol Academy
And while results in the key games did not fall in their favour, Yorston admits the togetherness of the side is unbeatable.
“Obviously after that final game everyone was really disappointed not to get the title,” said Yorston, who rejoined the side three years ago after a spell with Arsenal.
“But looking back on it now, if you had said at the start of the season that we would have taken it to the last game, reached the FA Cup final and qualified for the Champions League again we would have taken that.
“The success of our club definitely comes down to the spirit we have. We always talk about being a family atmosphere, it’s not just about the first team, a lot of work goes in behind the scenes, from the centre of excellence through to our development squad.
“Every year we have the same squad of a nucleus of players and then we just tweak it slightly with a few additions.
“The club goes for players that they know will fit into the Bristol Academy mould.
“There is an amazing team spirit right the way from the first team down to the centre of excellence and both on and off the pitch and I think that showed at times last season.
“We were 3-0 down to Doncaster at half-time and we came back to win 4-3, not many other teams would have been able to do that.”
While Arsenal would get the better of them 3-0 in the FA Cup, Bristol Academy would finish above them in the league with ten wins and just three losses in the season.
Corinne Yorston challenges Arsenal's Jordan Nobbs
The toughest to take would be the final game against Liverpool, in what would be manager Mark Sampson’s last game before being chosen as the new England Women’s manager.
And while the title decider was a great spectacle for women’s football, Yorston could not hide her disappointment at failing to get over the final hurdle.
“It was devastating at the end, really disappointing,” added Yorston. “Going into the game there was great anticipation around the club, a real excitement in the city and the community and all the girls were buzzing.
“It was a great game to be involved with, a winner-takes-all finale, unfortunately they were just the better team on the day.
We finished above a lot of great teams like Arsenal which just shows how far we have come.
“We won a lot of games, scored a lot of goals and played some really good football along the way.”
